Bumper Panda crop last year

By Nick Matzke

Interesting choice of headline. Prof. Steve Steve is pleased:

Baby pandas! Baby pandas! Baby pandas! POSTED: 10:07 a.m. EST, January 3, 2007

BEIJING, China (AP) – A mini-baby boom last year has pushed up the number of pandas bred in captivity in China to 217, state media said Wednesday.

Some 34 pandas were born by artificial insemination in 2006 and 30 survived – both record numbers for the endangered species, Cao Qingyao, a spokesman for the State Forestry Administration, was quoted as saying by the Xinhua News Agency.

The previous record was the 21 baby pandas born in China’s zoos and breeding centers in 2005.

National Geographic a photo of them all lined up a few months back…